Chains of Golden Days
by Dangereuse-Penguin
Summary: It is never easy to choose between the life you knew and the man you love, even if he is the most evil man in the world. Lilah knew that now. What she didn't know was how she was going to survive the choice.
1. Chapter 1

All I have to say is this: sometimes, the plot bunnies hit, and they just don't quit.

Disclaimer: the usual.

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There were few things that Lilah feared these days, she mused as she battled a quad of D'Haran men.

Soldiers of the Dragon Corps were not among them.

They were men. Just men. She knew how they operated. They had swords and crossbows, and they would try to kill her. That was all. And it was comforting. Just men. No magic. No tricks. No motive except to stop her. It was a simple, clean confrontation. Just men.

Lilah had been through much. Too much to let these mere men keep her from escaping the People's Palace once and for all. So she fought hard.

Her dagger had taken the first man when she threw it clean through his leather hauberk. She had then taken his broadsword from his dead hands and was using it against its former master's comrades. She was doing rather well.

Lilah was not surprised by this. After all, she had learned from a very skilled teacher.

Lilah had learned many things. Good things and bad things. Things that were wondrous and things that nobody should ever have to learn, often within a few moments of each other. She had had her soul torn in two directions until she thought it was going to tear in two. She had been forced to make the most difficult decision of her life.

And now she was fighting to see her decision carried to its completion. Which meant getting out of this hellhole. The People's Palace. Her prison.

Her paradise.

As the last man fell, Lilah looked down at him with a small measure of remorse. Before it could blossom into guilt, she took his crossbow, and started running.

She had approximately ten minutes before Darken Rahl would wake to find her missing. She needed to be as far away as possible by then.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, so a little background I neglected to give before- This is set in the TV series, sometime before the 1st season finale. We're just going to pretend that never happened, mmkay? Otherwise, I'd have no story, and that would be boring. In case you're wondering, I haven't read the books, although from what I've heard about he discrepancies between TV and books, that might be for the best. Basically, Craig Parker just makes me want to write stuff. (Seriously. Every time the man appears on screen, a plot bunny is born. I have like 10 snippets of Haldir fanfic on my hard drive, no joke)

Anyways.

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_**18 Months Earlier**_

Lilah Smith was, as her name would imply, the daughter of a smith. Brom Smith was his name, and he was the kindest and best father a daughter could ask for. He was the best blacksmith for miles and miles, and his forge was nearly always hot. Lilah lived an easy life in the idyllic Midlands village of Riverswood. Her family did well. Her mother and sister, Freya and Hannah, spent their days happily in the kitchen, as Lilah spent hers at her father's side, learning the trade and art of being a blacksmith, since her father had no sons.

She grew up as most do; she laughed, and loved. Skinned her knees and burnt her fingers. Had her heart broken, and broke a few hearts of her own. She kissed the baker's boy and exchanged shy glances with the scholar's apprentice. She was best friends with Hannah and with the seamstress's daughter as well. She grew strong in the smithy, and smart in her family's company. Her parents said she grew up too fast.

That all changed when the D'Harans came through. They marched into Riverswood like they owned it, as if they had the right to whatever village in the Midlands struck their lord's fancy. Apparently, Lilah's town, but more specifically, Lilah's father, had tickled Lord Rahl's whims.

At the time, Lilah hadn't known how Rahl had heard of her father's skill. Later, she would find that a man from another village had bought one of her father's swords at a fair price, and then went on to sell it to a D'Haran captain for almost twenty times the price he had paid for it. The captain then returned to the People's Palace, where Lord Rahl noticed the superior craftsmanship of the blade. He asked where the captain had bought it. He told Rahl of the trader. The man was brought in, and he told Rahl of Brom Smith, the best blacksmith in the Midlands. He told him also of Brom's daughter, who stood at his side in his forge, and who he was fiercely protective of.

So Lord Rahl sent his men to Riverswood, with the instructions to bring back Brom Smith, and his younger daughter.

They came for them the day before Lilah's nineteenth birthday.

Lilah and her father had been working in the forge on swords for men in the resistance when a quad of the Dragon Corps, led by a D'Haran captain, marched in. He surveyed the scene before his eyes for a moment. Lilah was pumping the bellows as Brom hammered on what would soon become a broadsword. Upon their entrance, both looked up in shock.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Brom asked diplomatically. "If you're in need of weapons, I can outfit the four of you in a sennight, but if it's armor you need, it'll be more time."

"It's not armor we came for," the captain said cryptically. Lilah and Brom looked at him askance as he let the statement hang for a moment. "It's the two of you." For a time, no one said anything. Lilah looked back and forth between her father and the D'Harans. Finally, her father breathed deeply, and spoke.

"And what, exactly, do you want with the two of us?" he asked calmly.

"Lord Rahl has heard of your skill," the captain informed your father. "He has invited you to come with us to the People's Palace, and act as his blacksmith there." Lilah's father raised his eyebrows in interest.

"And why would Lord Rahl think I would accept this offer?" Brom replied, his tone carefully devoid of emotion.

"If you refuse his offer," the captain replied, "Lord Rahl has invited me to kill your daughter." At this point, a D'Haran, who had snuck up behind Lilah during the course of the encounter, held a dagger to her throat. She gasped quietly, but tried to stay calm and keep her breathing even so as not to jostle the knife. "Also, your wife and elder daughter. And anyone in the village I feel like." Brom's brows furrowed in fury. He looked at Lilah. She met his gaze evenly.

"Father, there's not a choice," she said. Brom's fiery glare turned on the D'Haran.

"Why my daughter? Why Lilah?" he demanded.

"Your protectiveness of your daughter is well known throughout the village," the captain said smugly. "She will be Lord Rahl's personal attendant…to ensure your loyalty."

"Ensure my loyalty?" Brom roared. "That's ridiculous! I'm a common blacksmith! What is the point of kidnapping the daughter of a man of no importance at all?"

"Tell me, blacksmith," the captain said conversationally. "How easy would it be for you to sabotage a sword made for Lord Rahl? So that in the field of battle, or in the practice ring, it failed him and shattered?" he paused to let it sink in, before stating grimly, "The girl comes with us."

Brom looked to his daughter again. She nodded cautiously, conscious of the blade at her throat.

"As Lord Rahl commands," Brom bit out. The D'Haran captain smiled a chilling smirk.

"I thought you'd see it my way," he said, and motioned to his men. They chained Brom and Lilah's hands. As they were led out of the smithy, they saw Hannah and Freya, being held by more D'Harans. All of Riverswood stood in the square, watching with sad eyes. Hannah wept openly.

"Don't worry about me, Hannah," Lilah said to her, stopping for a moment. "I'll be just fine. Being Lord Rahl's personal attendant will be much easier than being father's apprentice. I'll have soft hands by the time we come home. Softer than yours. Wait and see," she said, her voice breaking. "Take care of Mother." Hannah nodded. Lilah looked to her parents. Her mother was holding her father's face, whispering softly to him. She released him, and turned to Lilah.

"Be brave, my darling girl," she whispered fiercely.

"I love you," Lilah replied. Freya kissed her daughter's forehead.

"And I you," she said. The D'Haran holding Lilah tugged at her chains, and she was dragged away.

Lilah and Brom walked for weeks. They were given little water, and even less food. Their feet ached from walking and their shoulders ached from the heavy metal chains and their hearts ached from the weight of it all. Finally, they reached the People's Palace, dirty, beaten, hungry, but more than anything, tired.

The two were taken to Rahl immediately, chains, rags, dirt and all. They were pushed to kneel before him by his guards.

"Brom Smith," Rahl drawled. "And am I to presume that this is the daughter I've heard so much about? Tell me, girl, what is your name?"

"Lilah," she bit out, glaring into Rahl's cold blue eyes defiantly. He chuckled darkly.

"Lilah," he said. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm sure the feeling is mutual." Lilah invited Rahl to do something rather unpleasant and physically impossible to himself. She was promptly kicked in the ribs by her guard. She grunted, but made no other audible noise, though she was fairly sure her ribs were bruised, if not cracked.

"Lilah," Brom said. "Quiet."

"Yes, Lilah," Rahl taunted. "Listen to your father. He's a smart man."

"A hundred times smarter and better than you could ever hope to be," Lilah rasped through the pain. The guard lifted his foot to deliver another blow, but Rahl held up a hand to stop him.

"No," he commanded. "Have her cleaned up, dressed, and sent to my study. We'll have some fun together, you and I," he said to Lilah with an eerie smile. "Have the blacksmith taken to his new chambers, then have him shown the forge. I want a new blade crafted within the week," he ordered, walking out of the room. "No excuses."

Lilah was jerked up roughly. She kept eye contact with her father for as long as she could, but soon her guard dragged her around a corner. She was taken to a tiny chamber where there was only a bed and a washtub. On the bed, a plain black dress had been laid out. She looked around for a moment. The guard let a maid in before slamming the door.

"Miss, I'm to help you with your bath," the maid squeaked. She was a young thing, no older than fourteen.

"Do I really merit a maid?" Lilah asked sardonically. "Aren't I a sort of maid myself?"

"Oh, I'm not a maid, Miss," the girl said. "I help the healers here. I'm here to patch you up, make sure your wounds are clean and your ribs are unbroken. I'm told you were kicked?"

"Oh," Lilah said, a bit surprised. "Well, I apologize for calling you a maid. Yes, I was kicked. Your help would be appreciated." Lilah lifted her tunic to see her ribs. The skin where she had been kicked was broken, and there was a trickle of blood down her side. Around it, a huge purple bruise was already forming. Lilah touched it, and winced. "You have your work cut out for you…" she trailed off, not knowing the girl's name.

"Ani," the girl finished for her.

"Ani." Lilah repeated.

"If you please, Miss, I need you to remove your tunic," Ani said meekly, stepping closer to Lilah. Lilah acquiesced, leaving her in her naked but for her breeches and the bindings on her chest, which were far more practical than a corset when working in a forge.

Ani looked closely at the bruising, and wiped away the blood from the wound.

"The puncture is likely from the guard's boot," Ani muttered. Lilah was unsure if the comment was directed at her.

"That steel toe makes for a fantastic rib cushion," she remarked casually.

"Tell me if this hurts," Ani murmured. Then, she poked the bruising. Lilah cursed. Ani hummed to herself. Then, she poked a few inches away from the bruising. Lilah cursed again. Ani stood, and nodded.

"They're broken," she said matter-of-factly. "I'll bind them for you after your bath. You'll need some help anyway, as you'll find you won't be able to lift your arms without pain." Lilah tried, and cursed a third time. Ani made a chiding sound and gently pushed her arms down.

"It's not that I didn't believe you," Lilah told her. "I just wanted to see." Ani sighed.

"Why don't you get in the bath now?" she suggested. Lilah did as she said. Once she was in the tub, Ani handed her a small cake of lye soap.

"You wash what you can reach without pain. I'll do your hair," she ordered briskly.

"Yes, ma'am," Lilah said, going to work on the parts of her legs within arm's reach. When they had finished, Ani helped Lilah out of the tub and into new underclothes. She then bound Lilah's ribs tightly before helping her slip into the new dress. It fit surprisingly well, Lilah mused. The sleeves were slightly short, hitting halfway down her forearm, but the hem barely brushed the floor, and the garment itself was only slightly tighter than Lilah would have wished. Black, she mused vaguely, would slim her muscular form. She then snorted aloud, causing Ani, who had been braiding her wavy brown locks to jump. Was she really worrying about how she would look? As if she were still at home, where any of that mattered? She sighed. Ani finished the long plait, and then pinned it into a low bun. Lilah stood with some difficulty.

"Well?" she asked. "Am I presentable?" Ani's emerald green eyes bore into Lilah's brown ones. Lilah almost laughed at the picture they must have made, the tiny blonde girl staring intently up at Lilah's face, nearly a head and a half above hers.

"Yes," Ani said with finality, after a long pause. "We don't have shoes for you yet, so you'll have to go barefoot for now. Watch your step in the halls." Lilah nodded. Ani then opened the door and said to the guard, "She is to be taken to Lord Rahl's study." Lilah looked sharply at Ani. Ani met her eyes with a small show of remorse.

"I must get back to the healers," she said to Lilah by way of apology. Lilah sighed with defeat and looked cautiously at the guard who had broken her ribs. He looked past her. Then, he roughly grabbed her arm, and "led" her through the palace to Lord Rahl's study. He pushed her in unceremoniously. Lilah fell to her knees from the pain of having her ribs jerked around, but rose as quickly as she could. Darken Rahl, who stood a few feet away, looked her up and down.

"My, my," he commented. "You clean up better than I anticipated. May I ask you a question?" he asked her. She glared at him, refusing to break eye contact.

"I believe the etiquette in these situations is 'He who owns the castle asks the questions,'" she said, adding as disrespectfully as she could, "My Lord." To her chagrin, Rahl just laughed.

"You are entertaining, Lilah Smith, blacksmith's apprentice," he informed her. "I was right when I said we'd have some fun. Starting with this," he said, suddenly moving in uncomfortably close to her. He looked down into her face from a mere inch away. Lilah mentally noted that he was a rather tall man. "Listen well, Lilah," he bit out. "I will not be humiliated by a peasant's daughter in front of my men, or anybody." He moved closer, if it were possible. "If we have this problem again," he whispered, "You'll find yourself with more than a few broken ribs." He punctuated his threat by grabbing Lilah's wounded side. The touch itself was not overly rough, but the pain was enough to make Lilah gasp softly. At the sound, Rahl's eyes changed. They went from frighteningly intense to almost shocked, as if he had not intended to lose his temper in such a manner. After a mere second, he composed his features and smiled slowly, backing away.

"As I was saying," he went on, as if nothing had happened, "May I ask a question?" Lilah nodded stiffly.

"Good answer," he congratulated her patronizingly. "My question is this: do you sing, Lilah?"

Lilah was dumbstruck.

"Do I _what_?" she asked, wanting clarification.

"I don't believe I stuttered," Rahl replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I do," Lilah said warily.

"Ah, wonderful," Rahl said, moving to his writing desk. "I'll have a song, then, while I write. I don't suppose you know anything D'Haran?" he asked. Lilah was dumbstruck. "No? Well, we'll remedy that. For now, anything that comes to mind will do." He sat at his desk and pulled out a quill. Somehow, Lilah found her voice an began to sing a lullaby her mother taught her. Rahl, nonplussed, pulled out a quill and his journeybook, and began to write.

Lilah stared in amazement. _This man_, she thought as he worked, _is absolutely insane. Father and I have to get out of here. _

"Louder, Lilah," he commanded imperiously, shaking Lilah from her thoughts. Too in awe to do anything else, she crescendoed. When she finished her song, Rahl looked up.

"That will be all. Take her back to her room," he addressed the guard outside the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lilah," he said. Lilah allowed herself to be pulled from Rahl's study and into her tiny chamber, which she now realized was just down the hall. As she was pushed roughly and fell to the floor, she thought in a daze,

_This is madness.

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_

Review, please!

Much love,

D-P


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to all those who reviewed!

So yeah… things I wasn't sure of (i.e. layout of the Palace, climate, etc.) I just guessed and/or made it up. Call it artistic license.

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The next day, after waking and dressing in the same plain black dress, Lilah attempted to open her door, only to find it locked. After jiggling the handle for a few seconds, she realized that it was futile and stopped. Obviously, Lord Rahl knew when he wanted her to leave her room, and that time had not yet come. Lilah simply lay back down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, imagining that she was back at home.

She pictured what Hannah looked like that day. Prettier than usual, Lilah decided, which would be very pretty indeed, as Hannah was widely regarded as a great beauty. Her honey-blonde hair would be in a long braid, but wisps would escape to frame her tan, freckled face. Her blue eyes would be sparkling, and she would be wearing her green dress, which Lilah liked best of all of Hannah's dresses. Hannah would have woken earlier than Lilah, of course, because Hannah always did. She would bounce into their room when it was time for Lilah to wake, and cheerily kiss Lilah on her cheek.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she would cajole, and Lilah would slap at her, eyes still closed. Hannah would laugh, and then Freya would call for Lilah to rise and do her chores.

Lilah shut her eyes tightly and tried to make her vision a reality. Tears leaked from her eyes as she tried to picture the most minute details of her home, so that maybe they would materialize when she looked again. She was so close that she could almost smell the bread baking…

…when Ani entered the room and said softly,

"Miss Lilah?"

Lilah almost cried out with grief. Instead, she took a deep, shuddering breath, and sat up. She squeezed her eyes closed for one more moment, before opening them.

"Yes, Ani?" she asked, feeling so very, very tired. Ani held a tray in her hands. On it sat a mug of water, a piece of bread, and a piece of cheese.

"Lord Rahl commanded that you are to have breakfast and then report to him in his study immediately." Lilah sighed tiredly.

"Of course he did," she said, taking the tray from the smaller girl's hands. She set it down next to her on her bed and ate quickly. Brushing the crumbs from her dress and draining the mug of water, Lilah stood.

"Well then," she said, and Ani led the way out of the room. Lilah's guard escorted (dragged) her down the hall to Rahl's study. Lilah asked the guard when she would be allowed to see her father. He said nothing, did nothing, did not even indicate that he had heard her. She managed to keep her balance as she was pushed into the room and resisted the urge to hold her arm where the guard had gripped her. There was a bruise there already. Lilah had noted it as she had gotten dressed that morning. She had a feeling that over time, it would only get worse.

She stood at the entrance to Rahl's study. He was inside, pacing around the pedestal where one box of Orden sat. He was staring at it intently, walking in circles. He said nothing to Lilah, made no show of noticing her arrival. Merely paced.

Lilah considered making a sound. Clearing her throat, stomping her foot, coughing. But she remembered the day before.

His silence, she thought, was very likely easier to deal with than his bizarre commands.

So she let him pace. She stood stock still where she had stumbled in, not moving, not speaking, barely even breathing. And she let the visions of home take her once more as Rahl's footsteps beat out a hypnotic rhythm.

Her mother's gentle chastising. Her sister humming as she did her chores. Her father's deep belly laugh when she told a joke at the supper table. The sound of metal on metal in the smithy. The heat, like a blanket around her.

She remembered going to the market with Hannah, laughing and gossiping and doing what young girls do. She remembered kissing her parents goodnight. She remembered the bed she and her sister shared, staying up late into the night whispering secrets to each other. She remembered her friends. She remembered meeting them in the village square with Hannah. Laughing, talking, causing such a ruckus that the adults around them didn't know whether to frown in disapproval or smile in remembrance of their own youths.

She didn't feel the cold stone beneath her feet anymore. She didn't feel her bruised arm, or the weight of her own tired body. She didn't hear Rahl's steps. She didn't feel his presence, or hear him breathing. She was gone.

And when, finally, hours later, she crumpled into the floor in a dead faint, she didn't feel that either. She just passed from one soft dream into the next.

When next she woke, Lilah did not know where she was. For a moment, she thought her daydreaming had been real, and that she was at home in Riverswood once more. However, as she slowly gained awareness, she felt the chill of being enclosed by stone walls in the unforgiving D'Haran autumn. She felt the coarse fabric of her dress, and the aching in every part of her body.

Lilah tapped strength she didn't know she had possessed to open her eyes in spite of the wave of disappointment that threatened to drown her right then and there. She saw the stone ceiling first. Then, she saw Ani's face. A window, off to her right. She could see nothing but clouds through it. She tried to sit up to see more, but Ani pushed her down.

"You are still weak," she informed Lilah. "Wait a moment, then sit up slowly." Lilah did as she had been ordered. When she had sat up (slowly), she saw something that she had not expected.

Rahl, in the corner of the room, leaning up against the wall. She stared at him for a moment, and he stared back, an inscrutable look on his face.

"You bled on my floor," he commented. Lilah resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'll try not to do it again," she assured him, trying her very hardest not to sound sarcastic.

"That will be all for today, Lilah. The healer wants to watch you, to make sure your head hasn't been damaged," he informed her, and swept out.

"Lucky we already _know_ yours is damaged, or you'd have to stay too," she muttered at the door after he left.

"Careful what you say, miss," Ani said briskly. "You never know who is listening." Lilah almost sighed aloud.

"No, I suppose not," she agreed. She laid back down, and turned to face the window. She stared at the gray, cloudy sky, and tried not to think of anything.

It didn't work.

And this time, when the painful memories of home took her, there was no timely interruption from Ani with breakfast. No fainting spell. Just the agony of missing her mother and sister, and of not knowing where her father was, or how he was doing, to keep her company as she wept, as the sky turned from gray to black.

When the sun rose, Lilah had run out of tears. She was in the exact same position she had been in all night, only now silent as she stared out the window, willing it to open wider and wider until it encompassed everything in grey clouds, rendering this stupid castle and its wretched inhabitants, but most of all, its cursed ruler, nothing.

Lilah heard soft, quick footsteps entered the room and assumed they were Ani's. She was proven correct when Ani spoke.

"Can you sit up?" she asked Lilah's back. Lilah turned over slowly and sat up.

"I feel fine," she said.

"Good," Ani remarked. "Then you can eat something quickly before you go-"

"-To Rahl's study," Lilah cut her off. "I know." Ani looked at her closely, then nodded.

"I'll be back with a tray," she said, and bustled out of the room. When she returned, the tray held a thick piece of bread, a mug of what appeared to be tea, and a chunk of cheese. Lilah ate with tiny bites, trying to make it last as long as possible. Ani watched, frowning.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Fine," Lilah assured her, taking another crumb of cheese into her mouth. She paused, counted to three, then took a miniscule sip of tea. "Just enjoying it."

"Enjoy it a little less," Lilah's least favorite voice in the world drawled from the doorway. "You're keeping me waiting. I don't like to wait," Rahl informed her. "If you aren't in my study in five minutes, there will be consequences." He walked away before she could answer.

"There will be consequences," Lilah mocked quietly, taking one last bite of bread and draining her tea. "I'll be off, then," she told Ani.

"Take it easy," Ani said. "Sit if you feel faint." Lilah made a noncommittal humming sound and walked out the door to find her familiar, surly guard awaiting her.

"Have you been standing there for two days?" she asked him before she could stop herself. He didn't respond, only grabbed her roughly by the arm, and "escorted" her to Rahl's study. Upon her entrance, he looked up from his writing desk.

"How nice of you to take time out of your busy eating schedule to come see me," he said sarcastically.

"How nice of you to allow someone to feed me so I don't bleed all over your nice floor again," Lilah retorted. Rahl frowned.

"Do we need to have a little chat about respect again, Lilah? Or maybe I can just have one of my guards talk about it with your father," he said threateningly. At the mention of Brom, Lilah nearly jumped.

"How is he?" she asked desperately. "When can I see him?" Rahl smiled slowly, then chuckled.

"Isn't that touching?" he remarked. "I should have known the way to get to your father would be the same way to get to you." Lilah blanched, then tried to control her expressions.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly. Despite her best efforts, her voice trembled.

"Well that's a silly question," Rahl said softly, rising from his desk. He began to pace around Lilah. "You know why we brought you here, Lilah. As an… incentive, for your father to do good work. It seems only logical that it works both ways." He stopped walking when he was behind her. She resisted the urge to turn around. He moved closer; she could sense it, until finally, she could feel his body heat, nearly pressing up against her back. He leaned his face in over her right shoulder. She kept her gaze forwards. Rahl slowly released a breath, making Lilah's hair move.

She clenched her jaw in anger and fear.

"Let's make a deal, Lilah," Rahl murmured. He turned his face towards her. His nose brushed her ear. She tried not to flinch. "You be a good little girl for the next week," he said coaxingly, "and I'll let you visit your father for a day." Lilah's breath caught at the mere thought. To see her father's face after three days of not even knowing if he were alive? To know for certain that they would see each other again, at least one more time? She would be a "good little girl" for a month, had he asked it of her.

"Do we have a deal?" Rahl whispered, startling Lilah.

"Yes," she replied out without pause. Rahl pulled back a little. She assumed she had shocked him with her easy acquiescence.

"Eager to agree, are we?" he asked, a gloating smile in his voice.

"When does the week start?" Lilah muttered.

"What?" Rahl asked, moving away from Lilah.

"The week," Lilah bit out, still staring straight ahead. "Does it start today or tomorrow?" Rahl circled around to face her again.

"Oh, this will be fun, won't it?" he said, almost to himself. He turned and went back to his writing desk. "It starts tomorrow," he tossed over his shoulder. He began to write, ignoring Lilah. After a time, he looked up again.

"Do try not to fall over," he said.


End file.
